Well, today I want to talk about stress, briefly, text-bookly.
We all have stress, sometimes (or all the time).
What we should know that stress is individualized. What causes stress for you may not be stressful for someone else.
Acute stress could be helpful. It can encourage you to meet a deadline or get things done. However, chronic stress can increase the risk of diseases like depression, heart disease and a variety of other problems.
How our body response to stress?
Our body have a stress circuit, that is hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. HPA axis is a feedback loop by which signals from the brain trigger the release of hormones needed to respond to stress.
These compounds include epinephrine , norepinephrine and cortisol. Epinephrine increases blood pressure and heart rate, diverts blood to the muscles, and speeds reaction time. Cortisol, also known as glucocorticoid, releases glucose from the body reserves so that this essential fuel can be used to power the muscles and the brain.
Normally, cortisol also exerts a feedback effect to shut down the stress response after the threat has passed, acting upon the hypothalamus and causing it to stop producing corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH).
#CRH's role is to trigger more release of cortisol
Therefore, acute stress may cause:
- Emotional distress (irritability, anxiety, and depression)
- Muscle problems (tension headache, back pain, jaw pain)
- Gastrointestinal problems (heartburn, gastritis, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome)
- Cardiovascular effects (high blood pressure, palpitations, sweaty palms)
But, it doesn't have enough time to do the extensive damage to the body.
Now we look at the chronic stress. Long term exposure to the cortisol may cause serious damage to our body.
First, your body will be immunosuppressed (means your immune system will be down). When you are immunosuppressed, you are more prone to get various type of infectious diseases, and also, the risk of getting cancer is higher.
Then, cortisol is lowering down your body's insulin sensitivity. Means your body might not respond so well to insulin, causing the glucose level in the blood higher than normal. In long term, you will have higher risk of getting diabetes mellitus.
Next, long term exposure to cortisol also will cause osteoporosis.
In addition, it will also cause hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol level). Together with high glucose level, they are the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
And, chronic exposure to cortisol, may lead you to get depression, chronic insomnia and also mood changes.
For children, the exposure to cortisol in long term, will cause growth retardation. (So, don't give your children so much stress, OK?)
There are many more disorders that stress will bring. So, now, you know that how important is the stress management?
We all have stress, sometimes (or all the time).
What we should know that stress is individualized. What causes stress for you may not be stressful for someone else.
Acute stress could be helpful. It can encourage you to meet a deadline or get things done. However, chronic stress can increase the risk of diseases like depression, heart disease and a variety of other problems.
How our body response to stress?
Our body have a stress circuit, that is hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. HPA axis is a feedback loop by which signals from the brain trigger the release of hormones needed to respond to stress.
These compounds include epinephrine , norepinephrine and cortisol. Epinephrine increases blood pressure and heart rate, diverts blood to the muscles, and speeds reaction time. Cortisol, also known as glucocorticoid, releases glucose from the body reserves so that this essential fuel can be used to power the muscles and the brain.
Normally, cortisol also exerts a feedback effect to shut down the stress response after the threat has passed, acting upon the hypothalamus and causing it to stop producing corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH).
#CRH's role is to trigger more release of cortisol
Therefore, acute stress may cause:
First, your body will be immunosuppressed (means your immune system will be down). When you are immunosuppressed, you are more prone to get various type of infectious diseases, and also, the risk of getting cancer is higher.
Then, cortisol is lowering down your body's insulin sensitivity. Means your body might not respond so well to insulin, causing the glucose level in the blood higher than normal. In long term, you will have higher risk of getting diabetes mellitus.
Next, long term exposure to cortisol also will cause osteoporosis.
In addition, it will also cause hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol level). Together with high glucose level, they are the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
And, chronic exposure to cortisol, may lead you to get depression, chronic insomnia and also mood changes.
There are many more disorders that stress will bring. So, now, you know that how important is the stress management?